News Media Alliance Requests Germany to Extend the EU Publishers’ Right to Non-EU Publishers during Implementation

On September 6, the News Media Alliance joined four other news media organizations to request the German Government to extend the protections created by Article 15 of the newly approved EU Copyright Directive to non-EU publishers. Article 15 of the Directive requires EU member states to create a Publishers’ Right that allows news publishers to protect their content online against unauthorized uses. The member states have until 2021 to implement the Directive. In the letter, the Alliance, European Publishers Council, News Media Association UK, News Media Europe, and WAN-IFRA noted that the member states have the right to extend the right to non-EU publishers, although the Directive does not require them to do so. Extending the right would protect both European and non-EU publishers. The letter was in response to the German Government’s public consultation on the implementation of the Directive. Read the letter here.